Ogier holds off Rovanpera to win Safari Rally

It's was a nerve-racking end to the world's toughest rally and it once again proved to never run out of surprises even on the final stages. 

Toyota's Sebastian Ogier and finish speedstar Kalle Rovanpera were only 9.2 seconds apart going into the final Wolf Power stage and Ogier had to fight through to the finish with a broken windscreen to claim victory. 

The Frenchman had a superb morning loop to maintain his lead ahead of his Toyota teammate Kalle Rovanpera despite tackling Oserian 1 without a tailgate after his brief brush with a tree. 

Rovanpera kept the time difference healthy even though he admitted to not pushing flat out as his championship points were secure as compared to his closest competitors. 

Ott Tanak seemed to be warming up for the Wolf Power stage later in the day when he put on a skillful show to take victory in the first drive around Hell's gate. 

Hyundai's problems seemed endless as Esappeka Lappi complained of breaking his propshaft again in the opening Malewa 1 stage with Dani Sordo also complaining of power steering failure. 

In the afternoon loop, most of the drivers seemed to preserve their car and tyres ready for a crack at the Power stage points as Rovanpera won Malewa 2 albeit with just a 0.6seconds time difference to his rival and teammate Sebastian Ogier. 

However more drama was to come in the Oserian 2 as the Toyotas that had looked absolutely supreme all weekend suddenly looked to have some issues with all drivers except for stage winner Takamoto Katsuta posting slow times. They was plenty of dust inside Toyota's cockpit and an alarm on the dashboard noting there was something a miss with Rovanpera notably "sporting" a mud moustache at the end. 

It was a historic 1-2-3-4 finish for the Japanese manufacturer as they showed their dominance in the Kenyan Savannah. 

Hyundai's Dani Sordo slotted in fifth in the standings with M-Sport Ford's Ott Tanak and Pierre Louis Loubet finishing 6th and seventh consecutively. 

After his troublesome weekend, Thoerry Neuville could only manage to finish 8th but won the five bonus points for his Wolf Power stage exploits. 

After the gruelling Safari, Kalle Rovanpera tops the standings with 139 points, 37 ahead of Neuville with Elfyn Evans completing the top three with 98 points.